The stories of Abolition

Welsh Abolitionists

By the 1790s the campaign for abolition had created a movement which saw Welsh Christians outspoken against slavery. John Elias from Anglesey, who was an important evangelist of the time, preached against slavery in Britain’s biggest slave port, Liverpool.

“Much was said about the sinfulness of the slave trade when we were in Liverpool recently. We found that some of the brothers were working on the ships which were used in this vile trade, yes, and one of them was forging the chains which would be used to enslave these poor souls; we urged them to abandon his task immediately; we urged everyone not to be involved with any aspect of this cruel institution. It is better to die of hunger than to have plenty of bread by being partakers of blood.”

Click to see the full BBC article HEREthis shows that people across Wales would have been wwell aware of the benefits that involvement in the slave trade, or Plantation Trade as it was sometimes refered to, was inhuman and wrong.